Warren Ackerman

S Bengi wrote:Go with linear rows
Pecan/Walnut/Hickory/Buartnut/Persimmon/etc @ 40ft*1.5 spacing
Legume/Adler @20ft*1.5 spacing
Chestnut/Hazelnut/Almond/etc @ 20ft*1.5 spacing
Vines/Apple-Pear and Fruits/Elderberry/etc @ 15ft * 1.5 spacing
Fruiting Shrub @10ft*1.5 spacing
Legume/Adler @20ft*1.5 spacing

Give you plan extra spacing you can always add some berries if you have too much spacing but if its too little it will be hard to dial-back.

Whats the size of this food forest 1/2 acre for a family or 40acres for a community (U-Pick)?

Hope I did this right. Thanks for this, what do you mean by 1.5 spacing? I've read that 20ft trees should have 18 feet between trees and 25 feet between rows.  Size will be around an acre if my research is correct.

I'm working on a design that will include:

apricot plum honey locust pecan chestnut hazelnut hickory cherry nectarine persimmon almond nannyberry elderberry kiwi witchhazel chokeberry juneberry seaberry black walnut
buartnut pear and apple, total of 90 trees/shrubs.  So much for going slow!

I started thinking of using Stefan Sobkowiak's NAP system using rows and now I'm learning about more non-linear design like a typical food forest.

The top priority is the lowest maintenance possible, pruning ok but no plans to spray each year, there is a chance this could become a you-pick operation.

What are the pros/cons of each approach?

My gut is telling me that having fruit or nut tree varieties NOT together (aka food forest) will make maintenance MUCH harder versus grouping things together.  Is this correct?

Has anyone learned any maintenance lessons on their own home orchard design?

Many thanks, any guidance most appreciated!!!

Khalid, curious how this came out? Seems like 7 years would be enough time to figure out if this mixed orchard worked? I'm working on a plan for a mixed orchard and would like thoughts on biodiversity versus the practicality of harvest with multiple harvest times.

Any progress?

Shame you don't live in/near Boston, 80% of what you wrote is the same for me. Since I'm new to my area I'm in the process of building up new friends, one thing I read is to pick things/events which are recurring, so you get to see someone several times to slowly build the relationship.  I'm very keen to visit permaculture farms in my area but so far have not found any within 30/40 miles.